"It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have." ~ James Baldwin

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

P O Box 1752 Paris TX 75461 ~ 903.783.9232 ~ naacp6213@yahoo.com

Meets First Thursday of Each Month at 6:00 PM ~ 121 E Booth

Voter ID Legislation

Dear Branch Presidents, Officers and Members:

President Bledsoe is requesting all members, and anyone else you can get to call, to contact Mr. Zack Bromer with the Dept. of Justice at 202 305 7798 regarding the unfairness of the Voter ID bill that was recently passed by our legislators. Below are talking points that you can utilize during your call regarding why this legislation should not be allowed to stand as passed during this session.

Voter ID Talking Points

1. The bill was unnecessary because no one can show the problem exists in Texas. Texas has a serious penalty already attached to fraudulent voting so it is not that likely that people are doing it.

2. It amounts to a poll tax because there is no waiver for the underlying documents needed to get the identification.

3. There is discrimination in the types of identification that might be permitted. African-Americans and Latinos do not own gun licenses, hunting and fishing licenses or passports in proportionate numbers.

4. To come back and prove your identity is not offering much of value to a working person. The hours are not conducive to working people.

5. There is a serious problem with election officials in Texas. We have uncovered examples of misconduct by election officials in reference to minority voters in many counties including Harris, Fort Bend and Bell Counties among others. The State officials were made aware of this by our testimony but declined to repair this problem so it is obvious there intent was to suppress the vote.

6. The correlation of a volunteer military & minorities in the military versus the elites. This bill will disenfranchise minorities &have a disproportionate impact on minorities.The Secretary of State has said that photo ID cards issued by the US. Department of Veteran Affairs is not acceptable forms of military ID to vote.

7. In Georgia any ID issued by the State or Federal Government is acceptable, Texas has a limited list

8. There have been no confirmed examples of voter impersonation fraud, but there have been numerous examples of people in our state continuing to exercise their official authority to deny people the right to vote. This bill will not go towards fixing any of the problems that do occur.

If you have any questions, feel free to give our Legislative Liaison Yannis Banks a call at 254 371 5790.